California and 23 other states sue EPA over emission standards
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - California Attorney General Xavier Becerra stopped by Santa Barbara’s Shoreline Park Friday afternoon to announce a lawsuit.
He is suing to stop an EPA attempt to revoke a 2013 waver, allowing California to set its own greenhouse gas and zero-emission standards.
The lawsuit filed in the DC Circuit is part of the state's ongoing fight to protect California's Advanced Clean Car Standards.
“This is about Californians' ability to breath clean air,” said Assemblywoman Monique Limón, D - California's 37th Assembly District.
Attorney General Xavier Becerra says every time California sets a new air pollution rule for new cars, the state has to get a waiver from the EPA.
“Since Governor Ronald Reagan approved the creation of California’s Air Resources Board we have been granted more than 100 waivers by the federal government to set those standards over the past 50 years,” said Becerra, California Attorney General.
Becerra, backed by 23 other attorneys general and Governor Gavin Newsom, says the Trump Administration is trying to undo years of progress and we can’t afford to backslide when it comes to climate change.
“We are filing a lawsuit opposing the EPA’s attempt to revoke the portions of the waiver it granted to the state of California in 2013 to set our own greenhouse gas and zero-emission gas standards,” said Becerra.
Assemblywoman Monique Limón stood alongside Becerra, she is not interested in going back to the old way of protecting our environment. “The environmental laws of California are working and they’re working in other states as well,” she said.
Officials say the lawsuit was prompted by the actions of the federal government, EPA and President Trump, trying to revoke California’s authority to have these waivers and allow the golden state to set higher standards.
“The Trump Administration and the EPA may have lost their conscious but here in California we’ll continue to use the full force of the law to protect our people and our environment and we will remind the federal government through a lawsuit its responsibility to do its job,” said Becerra.
As of 6:00 p.m. Friday, President Trump hadn’t commented on the lawsuit but in the past, he’s said that he wants one nationwide standard weaker than California’s, contending that fuel-efficient vehicles are too expensive and too small.
